FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

High-Level Talks between China and U.S. in Wake of Xi-Trump Call

Nov. 6, 2018 (EIRNS)—The second round of the China-U.S. Diplomatic and Security Dialogue will meet in Washington, D.C. later this week, the U.S. State Department and Chinese Foreign Ministry announced this morning. According to Foreign Ministry press spokeswoman Hua Chunying, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Chinese Politburo Member and Director of the Office of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China Yang Jiechi will co-chair the dialogue, which China’s Minister of National Defense Gen. Wei Fenghe will also attend, for “an in-depth exchange of views on China-U.S. relations and other issues of mutual interest.”

The State Department’s release was similar, adding that the two Presidents “launched this framework for negotiation in Mar-a-Lago in 2017 to expand areas of cooperation while narrowing differences on key diplomatic and security issues.”

Hua cited the phone call between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, when asked by a reporter at the daily briefing if the announcement means ties between China and the U.S. are improving. She added, however, a statement similar to those issued by Russian officials expressing their wish that people in the Trump Administration would act on the basis of President Trump’s clear intentions to establish normal, working relations with their country.

Hua reported that in their Nov. 1 phone call, Presidents Xi and Trump

“both said that it is very important for China-U.S. relations to maintain healthy and stable development. The economic teams of both sides should strengthen contacts, maintain communication, and conduct consultations on issues of mutual concern in a bid to reach an arrangement on the trade issue that is acceptable to both sides.... We hope that the economic teams on both sides will faithfully implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen contacts and maintain communication, and hold consultations on issues of mutual concern with a view to reaching a mutually acceptable plan.”